Seriously, in the year 2021/2022, we still have these questions asked of OSHA about a standard that has been in place since the mid-1980s. Scenario 1: Three (3) authorized employees are working on a pump. Each energy source is de-energized and locked out by an employee in plant operations. Then, the plant operations employee places the keys for each lockout device in a group lockbox in the plant control...

OSHA once again clarifies that locking out the air source to a pneumatically powered control valve is NOT locking the energy isolation device!  When I taught at ASSP Seminarfest several years ago, the most disputed point was this very practice.  I was very clear, which did not sit well with some attendees, that locking the air hoses to these valves was in NO WAY complaint – much less...

This came from the International Civil Aviation Organization and was modified by yours truly for manufacturing facilities to adopt.  It may be the best wording I have seen for what Safety is supposed to be at the C-Suite level within organizations. Safety is… “the state in which the possibility of harm to persons or of property damage is reduced to, and maintained at or below, an acceptable...

This is a MUST WATCH video and yes it is long, but it is a video every safety professional and even management personnel needs to watch.  For those still living in the world of Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) and you think that is just fine – WAKE THE HELL UP PEOPLE!  As they explain in this video, TRIR is for government agencies to monitor entire industry sectors.  It was...

At 8:45 p.m. on May 7, 2021, an employee and his coworkers were unloading a fertilizer hopper railcar when the Urea got stuck. They were using a compressor-driven vibrator on each side of the car as well as having employees hit the outside of the car with hammers. The employee and a coworker got up on the car to open the hatch and see if they could dislodge the clumped materials. The employee entered...

At 5:00 p.m. on January 31, 2021, an employee was loading a below-ground pit with dry sawdust when he dropped his cell phone into the pit. While attempting to retrieve the cell phone, he fell into the pit and was engulfed by the loose sawdust which suffocated and killed him. … HomeRead More »

Incident #1 – At 11:30 a.m. on February 19, 2021, an employee was cleaning a fermented yogurt tanker with a hot water pressure washer. The employee entered the tanker to access the front and back of the tank. A coworker reported hearing a noise and then the sound of the wash water stopping. The employee fell and hit his head while trying to exit the tanker. He had been asphyxiated due to oxygen...

At 1:00 p.m. on May 25, 2021, Employee #1 and Employee #2 were conducting maintenance work on a pump above a leachate vault. A coworker dropped a cellphone inside the vault and left to look for a tool to retrieve the cellphone. Employee #1 and Employee #2 entered the vault to retrieve the phone and were overcome by methane and hydrogen sulfide gases and were killed. … HomeRead More &raqu...

At 12:30 p.m. on June 7, 2021, an employee entered a sewer manhole to estimate the amount of materials needed to perform a manhole repair when the employee was overcome by high levels of hydrogen sulfide at the base of the manhole shortly after entry. The employee did not perform atmospheric monitoring and had not donned his harness with a rescue tripod before entry into the confined space. A four...

At 4:30 p.m. on November 11, 2020, two (2) employees were in the process of producing batches of a chlorine dioxide generator inside a newly purchased mixer. Emplo yee #1 was killed in an explosion after closing the lid on the mixer to complete the mixing operations. Employee #2 was injured during the rescue attempt. The manufacturing room and the surrounding area sustained extensive damage. …...

Background: Company employees work with packaged consumer commodities (e.g., body wash, sunscreen, mouthwash, dish detergent, fabric softener) that are placed in finished store displays. The products are not used by employees and are shipped back to the original manufacturer for distribution, or to distribution centers for resale. SDSs are maintained for shipping and/or disposal of the product. Question:...

On May 18, 2018, OSHA issued an Enforcement Memorandum for Regional Administrators, “OSHA’s use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Inspections,” to provide initial guidance on the use of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS) during compliance inspections and for other purposes. In light of recent improvements by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to help SUAS pilots fly safely in the national...